ANOTHER CHAPTER - THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING CREATIVE LICENSE. PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK - EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT :)

Stacks and stacks of papers piled high across her desk – one for each head of security that stood in front of her desk. The mountain of intel and information on each security officer in her family's detail – the stack of analyst's work on the security at the school – the endless pages of CIA information on anyone who'd made insignificant threats against the Secretary of State.

Bess set her glasses down on the desk – as she stood above it and, taking in all the information, hissed out, "It's been ten HOURS since anyone has seen the Secretary of State's daughter – and we have NOTHING?"

"Ma'am," Ephraim Ware, head of the CIA began, "We have all of the top teams on this – we're not taking this lightly."

Bess looked up and listened while the head of the Secret Service, the FBI, Homeland Security, and National Security Advisor all agreed, saying that they would find her in no time.

But she was barely focusing on their excuses. She wanted her daughter.

The cup of coffee and plate of food that Blake brought in sat cold and untouched at the corner of her desk, and hse could feel herself still shaking after what seemed like eternity – she just wanted the pit in her stomach to go away.

Now the men in her office were talking amongst themselves – trying to work out how and who had lost Emma – the connections that might have been crossed – Bess had heard it all in the last three hours.

Her phone rang. She picked it up.

"Ma'am, President Dalton on line one."

Bess' breath caught in her chest – and she said, "Tell him I'm in a meeting."

She could almost hear the hesitancy in her assistant's voice. "Ma'am, this is the third time he's called in the last…"

And she snapped, "I said I'm busy with other things right now, Blake. He can wait."

Blake's response immediately was apologetic, "Yes Ma'am, I'll…"

She hung up. And without looking up she said, "Are we bringing the security from the school in for questioning?"

Daisy rose from the couch where she was sitting with Matt and Jake, "With all due respect, Ma'am, if you don't want this to get out to the press, bringing in that amount of people in will raise a lot of red flags, and considering that it's public knowledge that your children attend this school, it would be a feeding frenzy."

Bess looked at the FBI director, "Can you not keep this quiet?"

He hesitated, "Ma'am, bringing them in would have to have legal grounds, otherwise it is simply an unwarranted investigation. We'd need to get warrants for all of…"

"Actually, asking them to voluntarily come in…" The CIA director began, "would be a step… but we can't ensure their silence."

The head of Secret Service said, "To keep it from getting out to the press, we could simply wait until the school opens on Monday and start that questioning, which would be routine."

Nadine, from her chair by Bess' desk, asked, "In what ways would it be worth getting the information even if the press found out?" Bess looked at her, listening, "The goal is to find your daughter as soon as possible. If that means the press knows, then that should be something we brace ourselves for."

Bess sat down, leaning back in her chair – thinking. The press knowing could create problems, all of which Daisy had informed her of: lack of security of the American people, giving whoever kidnapped or hurt her daughter a stage to do and say whatever to stay in the limelight… showing the weakness of the Administration. All of which Bess could care less about until she found her daughter.

"We've searched the dark web? Looking for any sort of ransom note or video claiming responsibility?" She asked.

Ephraim said, "We've found nothing. The only thing we have is that she walked from the Metro stop where her school is at 7:43 and never arrived at school. None of the cameras along the street show anything. It's as if she got off the Metro and disappeared."

Then Craig Sterling, the National Security Advisor, pointed out, "The canvas of the area shows no foul play – no …"

And her phone rang again. She picked it up.

"Ma'am, it's the Pres…"

"Dammit, Blake, I cannot talk to him right now. Tell POTUS that I have other things on my mind now!"

And she slammed the phone down.

And she knew by the silence in the room that everyone couldn't believe what she'd said about the President.

But she asked again for them to go over the timeline. From the time Emma left the house that morning.

She'd heard this and read it what seemed to be a thousand times. So while they talked through it again, Bess felt her anger at Conrad boiling up inside her.

She'd called Russell. And talked to him. Told him that her daughter went missing. Russell ensured her that he would talk to the President immediately. But Bess made it clear. She'd told him, "I cannot think about Conrad right now – tell him but I can't deal with his politicizing over what this could mean." Russell agreed.

Then not ten minutes later Blake informed her that the president was summoning her to the SIT room. She said that she was busy. That happened three more times. Then he'd called – and this time that she'd snapped at Blake had been the third time of that.

But no. She couldn't deal with him getting angry at her, deal with him making this a political issue right now – lecturing her about how if any of this got out it was his career that was over – all of that – Bess didn't want.

And she didn't want his sympathy. She had raised Emma with Henry – Henry was the one she bonded with over Emma's birth – Conrad had nothing to do with it – and so in such a vulnerable situation, Bess didn't want to share her vulnerability with Conrad.

And how could Conrad keep what he knew a secret from her?

Henry was home, taking care of things there – the kids, the house, going over security footage – doing what he could. It was better that he was home while she was here demanding the attention of every security outlet in Washington.

"After canvassing all the shops at that stop – we've found no trace of Emma's whereabouts from anyone." Ephraim finished.

"She didn't just disappear." Bess said, frustration building, "She always took the Metro – never had any problems. Went to school, got back on and rode the two stops to the house – it was never a big deal. Have we pulled footage from other days? Looked to see if maybe someone was stalking her on the trains? Or regulars that we can question? See if THEY saw her?"

"We have a list of people that we are going to…"

Her phone rang and she picked it up, "No. I'm not…"

Blake interrupted her just as the door to her office slammed open, "Ma'am the President…"

And there was Conrad, anger written all over his furrowed brow – the gasp from those in the room preceded the respectful standing immediately after. He walked into her office, the picture on the wall shaking from his violent entrance as he said, "Everyone out."

Bess remained in her chair.

And Conrad stood in front of her desk. Glaring down at her. His breath was heavy, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. His tie loosed, and his jacket unbuttoned.

Bess just stared right back – never breaking his gaze. She didn't blink even when the door quietly shut behind Daisy, leaving them the only two in the room.

His words were measured. Said between a hiss and a snarl, "How dare you leave me out of this!"

She crossed her arms in front of her, leaning back in her chair and shaking her head, "I am trying to find my daughter, Conrad. You are of no significance to me right now."

The surprise on his face didn't change any of the anger as he leaned over her desk, "You work for me! And you know this involves me now more than ever!"

And she reached into her desk and grabbed the folder that Russell had sent over, and she slid it across the desk and said, "Like this involved me? And you left me completely in the dark?"

Conrad opened the file, and upon looking at the first page, closed it. "Where did you…"

"Russell." She spat out. And stood to her feet, "Because your Chief of STAFF had the decency to fill me in on what could be THE VERY REASON my daughter is MISSING!" She yelled. And she pounded her finger into her desk, "You are a selfish BASTARD! Your fucking reelection campaign is worth more than protecting MY DAUGHTER?!"

"Bess you know that's not…"

"Don't go there with me." She interrupted. "You care more about your public standing than addressing an OBVIOUS threat on my daughter?" And hse reached out and ripped the file from his hand, and began to read, "'We know your secret. Resign." Then she skipped across another page to the next letter, "'Your love child should be exposed for all the world to know what a cheater and hypocrite you are. Resign and keep your relationship with Elizabeth McCord a secret." And she threw the file back at him, and said, "And there's pictures. Pictures! Of MY DAUGHTER in here – they knew!"

"What was I supposed to do? Resign? You know I couldn't do that!"

She walked around her desk, "Or you could have TOLD me about this!" She got in his face – the closest she'd been in a long time – and she hissed, "They were threatening my little girl and you kept it secret because of your reputation!"

He glared right back, "I thought I was doing what's right – I had Russell investigate…"

"Oh, Hell no!" She rolled her eyes – "You had Russell try and trace the letters – but only himself – not involving ONE OTHER PERSON – how the HELL is that doing what's right." And she pointed to the phone, "You called me SIX times tonight – and you couldn't even send me a courtesy email months ago to tell me about my daughter being used as BLACKMAIL?"

"I did what was best!" He argued back, "I wanted to protect my daughter too!"

That was the straw. Everything broke. And she grabbed his lapels and said, "She's in this mess because of you, Conrad." And she pounded her fist against his chest, "And I swear to God if anything happens to her, I'll blame you!"

He grabbed her wrist and held her away from him, "Bess, calm down."

Straining against him, she fought – all the tension from the past hours releasing as she fought and said, "You're the reason! She'd be safe at home in bed right now if it wasn't for you!" She twisted and turned, but he held on. And she felt the tears beginning to choke the back of her throat. "We could've put a detail on her – and she'd be fine."

"Elizabeth. Calm down." He said forcefully.

Her baby – she wanted her baby. All the strength she thought she had faded. And she fell to her knees – his hands still around her wrists until stopped fighting. And her hands, still clenched in fists – fell to her lap.

"Elizabeth, we're going to find her. We have the best military and invstigators on the job."

And she looked up, eyes narrowed – and through clenched teeth, she hissed, "If anything happens to her, Conrad, I will hold you responsible."